Two wheel warehouse truck having pivoted load support



Jan. 26, 1960 J. w. MANAHAN T WO WHEEL WAREHOUSE TRUCK HAVING PIVOTEDLOAD SUPPORT Filed June 24, 1957 m T m V m JOHN M MAA/A HAN ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent "ice TWO WHEEL WAREHOUSE TRUCK HAVING PIVOTED LOADSUPPORT John Walter Manahan, Goodhue, Minn-., assignor of one-half toOre Oelkers, Mazeppa, Mum.

Application June 24, 1957, Serial No. 667,424

2 Claims. (Cl. 280-47.29)

nections between the frame and the load supporting memher, which arereleasable to withdraw the truck from a stacked load, and which areself-engaging to interlock the frame and the loadsupporting member whenanother load is picked up.

It is a general practice to warehouse many fonns of heavy merchandiseeither in a palleted or stacked condition. To facilitate movement of themerchandise thus stored requires a truck constructed to enable theoperator to handle very heavy loads, and also to be able to easilydetach the load from the truck in a palleted or stacked condition. In myprior application, Ser. No. 483,534, filed January 24, 1955, now PatentNo. 2,854,245 issued September 30, 1958, I have disclosed one form ofwarehouse truck constructed for this particular purpose. In

.the present application, I have provided a modified form of truckprimarily intended for handling palleted loads or heavy stacked items.In the present invention, the load supporting member is formed with heeland toe portions, and the frame is pivotally joined to the loadsupporting member between the heel and toe portions and is provided withreleasable locking braces carried by the frame that abut the heelportions of the load supporting member in picking up a load. Whendepositing the load, the locking braces may be released to permitwithdrawal of the truck from. beneath the load, and these locking bracesare so arranged as to interlock with the load supporting member by arocking movement of the frame when another load is picked up. Stillfurther, these features are embodied in a truck wherein ground engagingpivots are provided on the load supporting member between the heel andtoe portions to facilitate tilting the load onto the truck when theground engaging wheels are in a position to support the load.

An object of the invention is to provide a warehouse truck for liftingand stacking heavy loads embodying a load supporting member pivotallyjoined between its front and rear ends to a normally upright frame, andproviding releasable pivoted locking braces that co-act between theframe and the load supporting member by an abutting action so that thebraces may be easily released and will perform a self-locking actionwhen the next load is picked Another object is to provide a truckembodying a load supporting member pivotally interlocked with a frame,and in which the interlocking means are adjustable to provide a nicebalance between the parts, and compensate for minor irregularities inthe parts.

A further object is to provide a warehouse truck embodying a pivotedreleasable frame, a load supporting member formed with toe and heelportions, and a ground 2,922,658 Patented Jan. 26, 19 60 engaging pivotbetween these portions to aid in tilting the loaded truck onto theground engaging wheels.

Other and further objects will become apparent from the followingspecification and claims, and in the appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the warehouse truck forming the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of a lower portion of the truck illustratingdetails of the connections between the frame and the load supportingmember when a load is about to be pickedup;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of similar portions of the truck with theparts in another relationship with respect to each other; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view taken on the lines 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Having reference to the several figures of the drawing, the inventionwill be described in detail. General reference numeral 10 indicates inits entirety a pallet-type warehouse truck embodying a normally uprightframe composed of a pair of laterally spaced side rails 12- and 14formed with handle portions 16 on their outer ends. Between the siderails extend transverse bracing members 18 and 20, that are connected bya number of vertical bracing members 22. Reference characters 24, 26indicate a pair of U-shaped members secured by welding to the rear sidesof the side rails 12 and 14, and these members 24, 26 serve to supportthe load when the side rails are tilted horizontal to the ground. Atransverse axle 28 is secured by means of rectangular plates 30 to thelower portions of the supporting members 24 and 26. A pair of groundengaging wheels 32, B4 are secured to the outer ends of axle 28. Theside rails 12 and 14 have rigidly mounted on their lowerlateral surfacesguard rails 36, 38 that act to prevent the load from rubbing or engagingagainst the wheels 32, 34.

A load supporting member is composed of a pair of laterally spacedplates 40, 42, each formed with a beveled toe portion 44, a heel portion46 and a downwardly sloping instep 48, the latter forming groundengaging pivots between the toe and heel portions, and used to aid intilting a load from the ground onto the truck. In rear of the instep 48,each of the members 40, 42 on its upper surface carries a bifurcatedbracket 50 that is pivotally 40, 42 is provided with an opening 53, seenin Figs. 2

and 3, whose function will be explained later. A transverse angle ironbrace 54 extends between the inner sides of members 40, 42 for unitingthe rear ends into a single structure.

Situated above the brace 54 and beneath the transverse brace 20 is a rod56 whose outer ends are journaled in brackets 58 welded to the rearlower sides of the side rails 12 and 14. A pair of depending lockingbraces 60 are mounted on the opposite ends of rod 56 and are interiorlythreaded to receive extendable bolts or machine screws 62. The bolts 62are adjustable with respect to the braces 60 so that when the frame isin a vertical position as shown in Fig. 2, the head portions of thebolts will engage the heel portions 46 of the load supporting member,and when the frame is rearwardly tilted as disclosed in Fig. 3, the headportions may extend into the apertures 53.

Each of the brackets 58 is formed with a rear sloping surface 64, andeach of said surfaces is formed. with a threaded aperture, not shown, toreceive a smaller threaded imachine bolt 66 secured by a lock nut 68.The smaller stop members or bolts 66 are adjustable and are intended toabut the heel portions 46 when the frame is in a tilted position such asdisclosed in Figs. 1 and 3.

Rod 56 is journaled for rotatable movement in the brackets 58, and afoot operated lever 70 is secured to rod 56 between its opposite ends toprovide this movement. A leaf spring 72, best seen in Fig. 4 is securedat one end to the cross brace 20 and extends in the rear of the lever 70for biasing the same in the direction of the main frame and for holdingthe depending members 60 in the position shown in Fig. 3 when the frameis in the unlocked condition. Spring 72 tends to urge the lever 7 (l toits inwardly swung position so that when the truck frame is rotated fromthe position of Fig, 3 to the position of Fig. 2, the head portions ofthe bolts 62 are brought into engagement with the heel ends of the loadsupporting membersv The operation of the truck will now be explained.With the parts in the position as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the truck isprepared to pick up a load, and the load supporting members 40, 42, areprojected under a pallet, or a load resting on the floor. This actionwill bring the forward portion of the interconnected load supportingmembers between the toe 44 and the instep 48 in contact with the ground.The frame is then rotated to the position of Fig. 2, causing the headportions of the bolts 62 to drag upon the top surfaces of the heelportions 46 under the influence of spring 72 until they reach an uprightposition to form an interlock between the frame and the load supportingmembers. Then, by exerting pressureon the handles 16, the load ismomentanily pivoted on the insteps 43 to overcome inertia. until theheel portions 4-6 engage the ground. Then, by further pressure, the loadis tilted on the heel portions 46 until the ground engaging wheels 32,34, contact the ground and thence by continued movement the load istransferred to the wheels and is transported to its place of deposit. Insetting the load down, the action occurs in reverse with the loadmomentarily pivoted on the wheels and then transferred to the heelportions 46, and thence further transferred through the insteps 48 tofull contact with the ground. Then, by depressing lever 76 with thefoot, the locking braces 60 are rotated clockwise to the position shownin Fig. 3 where their head portions may project into the apertures 53until the short bolts 66 engage the heel portions 46,

whence the truck may be withdrawn from beneath the load. It will beobserved that the parts remain in an unlocked condition until the frameis again rotated to the position of Fig. 2 beneath the next load, whencethe locking mechanism rotates without manual actuation to the positionshown in Fig. 2 to again interlock the frame with respect the loadsupporting members.

A principal advantage of the invention resides in the provision of awarehouse truck wherein the load supporting portion is pivoted to theframe for insertion under a load and may be locked to the frame when thelatter is in an upright position to permit tilting the weight of theload from the floor to the ground engaging wheels of the truck, and inthe readily releasable feature which may be self-relocked when the truckis ready to pick up another load.

Another advantage resides in providing adjustment of the critical partsof the locking mechanism to compensate for minor irregularities, and toassure an exact balance between the parts of the truck.

A further advantage resides in the provision of an abutting type oflocking mechanism which will permit free swinging movement of the frameeven slightly to the left of the disclosure of Fig. 2 to project theload supporting member under the load and which engages by abutment theframe and the load supporting member at the proper time when the load isto be transferred from the toerportions to the instep and heel portionsof theload supporting member.

My invention is defined in the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A warehouse truck, comprising a load supporting member formed withground engaging toe and heel portions and with a depending instepbetween the toe and heel portions forming a ground engaging pivot, aframe member composed of a pair of laterally spaced rails each pivotallyjoined at their lower ends to said load supporting member in rear ofsaid instep, a pair of ground engaging wheels each journaled on one ofsaid side rai-ls upwardly from and in rear of said load supportingmember, a depending member carried by the frame and projecting in thedirection of the heel portion of the load supporting member, saiddepending member supported for rotatable movement on a horizontal axis,resilient means operatively connected to said depending member andbiasing the same in a direction generally parallel with the frame, saiddepending member being of suthcient length to abut the heel portion whenthe frame is in a substantially vertical position and the loadsupporting member is engaging the ground in front of the instep to forma brace between the frame and the load supporting member toprovideinitial pivoting of the load supporting member on the instep andthen on the heel portion before the wheels engage the ground when theframe is rotated in the direction of the wheels, and means for rotatingthe lower end 'of said depending member in the direction of the pivotalconnection between the frame and the load supporting member to unlockthe frame from the load supporting member when the latter is engagingthe ground in front of the instep. 2. A warehouse truck, comprising aload supporting member formed with ground engaging toe and heel portionsand a depending instep between said toe and heel portions formingaground engaging pivot, :a framernember composed of a pair of laterallyspaced railseach pivotally joined at their lower ends to said loadsupporting member in rear of said instep,-'a pair of ground engagingwheels each journaled on one of said side rails upwardly from and inrear of said load supporting member, a rod journaled on said frame forrotatable movement on a horizontal axis a pair of depending memberscarried by said rod in rear of the side rails and projecting in thedirection of the heel portion of the load supporting member, resilientmeans operatively connected to said depending members and biasing thesame in a. direction generally parallel with the frame, said dependingmembers being of sufficient length to abut the heel portion when theframe is in a substantial-1y vertical position and the load supportingmember is engaging the ground in front of the instep to form bracesbetween the frame and the load supporting member to provide initialpivoting of the load supporting member on the instep and then on theheel References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,185,383 Dickson May 30, 1916 1,436,173 I-loxie Nov. 21, 1922 1,484,864Bompart Feb. 26, 1924 2,653,033 Chenette et -al.. Sept. 22, 19532,680,027 De Puydl et al. June .1, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS "102,233 GreatBritain Nov.23, 1916 g f l t

